05 February 2008

Goal: cut petrol consumption by 7%

Still no spending in the Armstrong household. We didn't even get the Sunday paper this week and that is one thing I would have thought Wayne believed an absolute essential :) I will need petrol sometime this week so as today is Tuesday and petrol is cheap I'll fill up on my way to pick the kids up after school. I do need to get petrol. We only have the one car and as we live 11km from school and there's no public transport close by I have to fill it up to get the kids to and from school each day. I'm going to try an experiment and keep the revs under 2,000 and see if I do actually get more mileage from a tank of petrol. According to the experts I should increase fuel efficiency by at least 7% and that equates to around $7.22 on a tank or $375.65 a year (based on 80 litres/week @128.9c/litre). I can't wait to see if it really works.

I've gone back through the Tip Store and the Article Archive and read up on all the tips to save petrol. The boot has been emptied of everything bar the spare tyre and the jack. The tyres have been checked to make sure they are properly inflated. I've been practicing smooth take-offs and braking and anticipating the traffic ahead. All these things should help increase fuel efficiency. Now if only I could arrange to get the kids to school after peak hour the fuel used sitting in traffic would disappear.

Hannah has ruled up an old notebook for us to use to track petrol consumption, cost and savings. She has put a bulldog clip in the car to put the receipts on so they don't get lost and to keep track of any petrol discount vouchers we get. As this is going to be a low spend month we may do trolley crawl and see if we can find any lying around. That could be job to keep the boys busy while I'm getting essentials if they come with me.

So my goal for this week is to reduce petrol consumption by 7% and not spend any non-essential money.

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Welcome!

If this is your first visit, welcome! If you're a regular visitor, welcome back.

This is my record of the daily challenges the Armstrong family faces as we live life the Cheapskates way - debt free, cashed up and laughing - and try to stay that way.

Here I talk about the little things I do that save us a lot of money and the bigger things that may only save a small amount. I share the things that work for us and the things that don't. I say it as I see it, so if I try something and think it's a dud, I'll tell you. And if I try something and it works, I'll share it with you.

You'll get an insight into a very frugal family living a very comfortable 21st Century lifestyle and I hope it encourages and inspires you as you make your journey to living life the Cheapskates way.